Atarashi Neko
by Nessie-san
Summary: Natsume has been going on even more missions lately, and Mikan's worried. The only thing she can do to help him is the one thing he's working to avoid. Slight OOCness. HxR, MxN, YxI, YxN maybe mention of SxK. RxR, please.
1. Chapter 1

Atarashi Neko

A Gakuen Alice Story

By Rachel Condliffe

Chapter One - Natsume's POV

I came back from the mission tired and injured. I'd sustained two bruises to the head, and I thought maybe one broken rib. Mikan was going to be furious. She was always talking about how "one of these days I was going to REALLY hurt myself and I'd be forced to leave her".

I would never let that happen. I knew she wasn't being clingy, and that she was just as concerned for me as she was for herself. After all, if I left, she would be forced to be in the Dangerous Abilities class. Also, if I left, we would both be torn apart. We NEEDED to be together.

I made myself go to the hospital and get my rib wrapped. If I didn't, I'd have hell to pay - this time from Imai, Mikan's best friend, and Ruka's girlfriend. I'd probably have hell to pay from Ruka, too, come to think about it.

The stupid nurse forced me to take painkillers before wrapping my ribs. She didn't even trust me with pills by now, and had asked the hospital for a shot form of them for me. Then she wrapped my ribs, and I could go.

When I got back to my room, Mikan was there. She was sitting on the bed, having fallen asleep without lying down. She'd been waiting for me to get back.

"Oi, Polka," I said, trying to wake her up, at least a little.

She let out a miniature scream before realizing where she was, who was talking to her, and that I'd just gotten back from my mission.

"Natsume!" she said, launching herself at me. I winced when she touched my rib, but I didn't think she noticed. That is, I didn't think she noticed my wince. She noticed the bandages.

"Natsume, what's this? What happened?" she asked, her voice worried now.

"Nothing," I said. "I just bruised the bone, so the nurse put a wrap on it so I couldn't touch it. I could tell she didn't believe me, so I showed her. "See? They would have put more bandages on it if it were broken. You know that, Mikan."

It wasn't broken, the nurse had said. Just bruised. Badly. Mikan didn't need to know how badly, though.

She looked at how thick the bandages were, having learnt how thick the bandages for each different injury was due to Hotaru thinking that she should know how to wrap any injuries I got. "Since you usually refuse to go to the hospital, idiot," she'd said when I asked her why she'd felt the need to teach Mikan something like that.

"Okay," she said, quietly. She was being more careful of my ribs now, but still holding me tight. "I'm just glad your back safe and more or less sound."

She looked up at me, and I kissed her, loving the way she immediately gave into my kiss. I deepened it by opening my mouth, forcing her to do the same. I then slipped my tongue into her mouth, making her sigh, and making my heart race with excitement and passion.

But I needed air now, so I carefully disengaged myself from our passionate kiss. She started to protest, but I put a finger on her mouth and pointed at the clock. She looked at it, and - realizing how late it was - promptly freaked out.

"How come you got back so late? Why is it almost six AM? What took you so long?"

"It was far away," I answered, as calmly and firmly as I could. It was true. This mission had been far away. In fucking Kyoto. They wouldn't take me by plane because it was too noticeable, so they'd taken me by car. All. The. Way. To. Kyoto. From Tokyo. It was fucked.

"How far?" she asked, and I sighed. I knew I had to tell her, so I did. "Kyoto?" she exclaimed. "Why didn't they just send you with the warp hole?"

"You know they don't acknowledge that it exists. If they did that, what's to stop students from running away from school via the warp hole?" _Like you tried to do_, I added silently in my head.

"Right," she let out a big yawn, and I smiled slightly at her.

"Go to bed, Mikan," I said kindly. "I'll come once I change, but go back to bed. Get under the blankets, this time."

She nodded and sleepily went back to the bed, where she got under the blankets and promptly fell asleep. God, if that girl didn't spend almost every night in my room, she would probably never wake up. She'd miss every day of school because she accidentally slept in.

The sun was starting to come up now, but I figured we could skip a few morning classes without getting in too much trouble, so I changed out of my mission clothes and got into bed.

Before I fell asleep, I looked at her sleeping face. She looked slightly troubled by something, but otherwise she looked like an angel. I smiled, thinking how opposite from me she was, before I kissed her forehead and snuggled in next to her, hugging her to me as I slept.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yo, minna-san! How are peopleses? I know. I know. I was evil about the last chapter. But it got me more reviews, right? This time, no new chapter 'til I get six reviews or five weeks pass! Come on people! I KNOW you can do it! As promised, a lot more is going to happen in this chapter. A LOT more. It's also gonna be pretty dark...which my beta reader, Ariisha-chan, says is perfect (I know better. My stories aren't perfect. Nothing is). By the way, _SPOILER ALERT_! BIG SPOILER IN THIS CHAPTER! If you haven't read the manga through the time travel arc, I suggest you stop reading this. The reason is that things are mentioned in my story that you find out about during the time travel arc (DON'T JUST READ THAT ARC! IT WON'T MAKE SENSE IF YOU DO!), which are essential to the manga, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. If you don't give a shit about spoilers, go ahead and read.**

**I'd like to thank Ariisha-chan for beta reading this chapter. It's always better after you beta it ^-^.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, I'm getting really annoyed with these things. I am not Tachibana Higuchi, therefore I do not own Gakuen Alice. I do not have a huge fan following of people who worship me, therefore I am not Tachibana Higuchi, therefore I do not own Gakuen Alice. I am not a fucking brilliant mangaka, therefore I do not have a huge fan following of people who worship me, therefore I am not Tachibana Higuchi, therefore I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE! This goes for all chapters of this from now on.

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Atarashi Neko

Chapter Two

Natsume's POV

When I woke up, Mikan wasn't there. I was about to freak out - in my own way, which is to act about as motivated as regular people usually are, even if inside I'm screaming - when my hand brushed against a piece of paper.

_I woke up too late to go to class. I'm going to Central Town with Hotaru. You were sleeping so soundly that I didn't want to wake you. _

_ - Mikan_

_P.S. I'll see you at the meeting tonight._

Well, at least I knew where she was. That was - wait. What? What meeting? The only meeting I knew about was the Dangerous Abilities class -

My thoughts stopped dead. It wasn't possible. Mikan couldn't be in the Dangerous Abilities class. She just _couldn't_! I'd worked my ass of so that she couldn't. I'd begged and pleaded so that she couldn't. I'd given all sorts of arguments to Persona and even Principal Kuonji, who started the missions in the first place, as to why she couldn't.

I looked at the clock. Damn it. I didn't have time to sit around. The meeting was going to start soon.

I got dressed in my uniform, since I didn't want to bother searching for something to wear. Then I rushed out the door to get to the meeting on time. Persona would punish me if I didn't.

When I got there, I stopped just outside the door. There was Hayate's voice. There was Persona, scolding him. There was Nobara - that was weird. She doesn't usually talk...unless….Then I heard it. Mikan's voice, answering Nobara's. Laughing. She was in there, and she was laughing! Mikan, please, don't. It hurts. It hurts to know that you're in the Dangerous Abilities class. Please, Mikan.

I opened the door, and there she was. Mikan. Talking to Nobara like they were shopping in the middle of Central Town, instead of like they were about to start a class where the primary subject was how to kill people who wanted to kill you.

Youichi was there, too, staring at Mikan as though he didn't understand her. He probably didn't. I barely understood her in that moment.

Nobara said something to Mikan, and nodded towards me. She turned and gave me her dazzling, idiot's smile. I couldn't smile back. I couldn't show her any form of happiness, even in my eyes. I felt almost sick.

"Natsume! You're finally here!" she said, her voice still perky as ever as she grabbed my hand. Didn't she understand? "I was just telling Nobara-chan about my trip to Central Town with Hotaru today-" she stopped short, finally taking note of my expression. "Natsume, are you okay? You look a little sick…" she trailed off.

"What are you doing in this class, Polka?"

"I think Persona-sensei is going to explain that when class starts," she said quietly. I could tell she didn't want to be the one to explain it.

"Please, just tell me, Mikan. I don't want to hear that bastard say it."

"Natsume-kun, you wound me," said Persona's dangerous voice. Mikan held my hand a little tighter. I understood that reaction completely. Here was the man who'd ruined mine and my sister's life; the man who'd killed her father, and he was right in front of us. "I'm sure it doesn't matter which one of us says the reason. After all, it wont hurt any less if someone else says it."

"It's o-okay, Persona-sensei. I-I'll tell him."

She looked up at Persona, and from what I could see of her face, she was looking at him pleadingly.

"Of course, Mikan-chan. After all, it's _your_ news to tell, isn't it?" His voice was now dangerously sweet, which is always more dangerous than his normal voice.

Mikan's hand tightened around mine, but she said brightly "Thank you, Persona-sensei. That's very nice of you."

I was surprised. I didn't show it, but I was. She'd sounded like her usual, bubbly self. She'd sounded happy. Her hand showed otherwise, as her knuckles were white as she squeezed my hand. I could tell how scared she was from that, so I didn't tell her to let go. After all, it wasn't her usual fear of ghosts or the dark - which were both irrational - that was making her do this.

No, instead it was fear of a very dangerous person, who could kill her in an instant if he thought she was a threat. I needed to protect her from that person.

"Natsume-kun, sit down," said Persona. "Mikan-chan, please come up here and introduce yourself. Also, you'll say why you joined the Dangerous Abilities class, now."

I didn't want to let go of her hand. All my instincts told me to keep hold of her. But she was pulling away and going toward the front of the class.

"Hi!" she said brightly. Her fingers were digging into her palms. Her knuckles were still white with the pressure. She was so brave. "I'm Sakura Mikan, pleased to meet you." She bowed slightly to the class. "Persona-sensei wanted me to tell you all the reason I was transferred into this class, so I guess I kinda have to tell you."

She was starting to babble again. A dangerous habit, in this class. "Well, I came to lessen the number of missions Natsume had to do. I was afraid for his health, and they'd wanted me before, so I consented this time. Oh, and the Alice they want me in this class for is my Steal Alice, which is a pair Alice with the Insertion Alice."

My breath caught in my throat. She'd done this for me? She was putting herself - no, throwing herself - into darkness for my sake? I didn't want that! I wanted her to be safe. I wanted her to-

Mikan came back and sat down next to me, grabbing my hand in the process. She squeezed it until it felt like there was no blood left, but I didn't mind. She needed some way to show her fear, or she would explode. I could tell. She was also shaking slightly, so I guessed that her holding my hand that hard was also to control her shaking.

I squeezed her hand back slightly, and she gave me a smile. It was a real one, as opposed to the smile she'd shown while introducing herself. That one had been like a shadow of her real smile, the one I was seeing now. I hoped I'd never have to see that shadow smile again, but since she was in this class now, I guessed she'd be showing it a lot more.

*Mikan's*POV*

Natsume didn't know the worst of it. Not yet. I knew he wouldn't be able to deal with it all at once. That's why I hadn't told him yet.

Persona-sensei went through all the motions of having a class, but it was obvious that that wasn't the real purpose of this group of students. We were weapons. Soldiers to be sacrificed as needed. It was scary.

I was gripping Natsume's hand as tightly as I could to keep from screaming out loud. I was shaking, too, from the effort of not panicking. _I chose this,_ I kept reminding myself. _It was the only way I could think of to protect Natsume, so I chose it._ It didn't make me any less scared.

Finally, Persona-sensei stopped the farce of a class and told Youichi to train with Hikari, who was a year ahead of him in school, but fairly new to Gakuen Alice, and Nobara to train with Hayate. Natsume looked at Persona-sensei furiously, realizing what I hadn't yet told him

"You want me to train her," he said emotionlessly.

"You're the best one for the job, Natsume-kun," said Persona-sensei. His voice is so scary. Especially when he pretends to be nice. At least when he's mean you know what he's thinking. When he's nice it's impossible to tell. It almost seems like he's actually being nice, but there's an undercurrent of malice there, and that's what's really scary.

"If I refuse?"

"I will train her, in the same way that I trained her father."

I gasped. He'd killed Daddy. I knew that. I knew Persona-sensei had killed my father, but I didn't expect him to be so blatant about it. I suppose now that everyone knew, it was only a matter of time before he'd started hurting me with it. Scaring me with it. Threatening me with it.

Natsume stiffened, and I could tell it hurt him as well, to know that Persona-sensei had killed a member of my family. Even if it had been an accident at the time, he obviously didn't care that he'd killed him now.

The hand that wasn't holding Natsume's curled into a fist. I wanted to make Persona-sensei hurt like I hurt. I wanted to make him feel as much pain as I was feeling at the moment. I wanted-

But it didn't matter what I wanted. I might have the only two Alices that can stand up to Persona-sensei, but I wasn't anywhere near strong enough to fight him using them. If I attacked him, I would die. Just like Daddy. Just like Natsume's mother. Just like anyone who'd ever disobeyed Persona-sensei, or the school.

I calmed down my murderous rage with that simple fact: If I acted against him, I would die. I would be the one to leave Natsume alone, not the other way around. I'd entered the Dangerous Abilities class so that neither of us would have to be alone. If I died, there was no point.

"I'll train her," Natsume said stiffly. It'd only been about a second since Persona-sensei had threatened me.

"Good. Here's the list of what I want you two to do today." He handed Natsume a sheet of paper with tiny writing on the front and back. "I don't care what order, as long as you finish the list. Also, Natsume-kun, she'll have a mission with you in a month, so you better train with her enough that she doesn't die there. It'd be a pain to have a brand new operative die."

Natsume and I both stiffened at Persona-sensei's choice of words. Also, I hadn't expected to have a mission in only a month. Was that normal?

Natsume nodded a salute to Persona-sensei, and we left the classroom. Everyone else had gone through the windows, but - as I was new - Natsume and I left through the door. We ran into the Northern Woods so as to get as far away from Persona-sensei as possible. I didn't want to be anywhere near him ever again.

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**So, what do you think? Was it good, bad, wonderful, horrible? Don't care what you think as long as you post a review! Reviews make the world go 'round. They make authors EXTREMELY happy. As a matter of fact, they make us (me) so happy that we (I) will post the next chapter as soon as I get six reviews. One thing, though, it's not _quite_ done yet. I've written it, but it still needs to be beta'd and my movement teacher (I go to an arts school for acting, so we have to learn how to use our bodies correctly) said she'd read it to make sure that all the fighting (teaser trailer. MWAHAHAHA! EVILNESS!) is realistic. Or, well, as realistic as possible, anyway. So, if I get six reviews before both betas are done, I won't post it immediately. But, as soon as both betas are done, and I get six reviews, I'll post it. I promise. REVIEW, PEOPLE! REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**You all exceeded my expectations wonderfully! It only took...I think three days of the second chapter being up before I got the required six reviews of it. You all ROCK! So, here's the new chapter as a reward to you. Next chapter seven reviews or six weeks. Now, since I got six reviews on chapter two, I KNOW I can get seven reviews on this chapter. My beta reader, Ariisha-chan (who, as always, I'd like to thank for beta reading the chapter) said that when reading this chapter, she had the most fun reading that she's had in ages. I know, crazy, but what do you guys think? That's what REVIEWS are for! So REVIEW! Also, as before, if I don't finish writing it by the time I get seven reviews, I won't put it up. I'll put it up when I'm done if the requirements are met. That goes for all chapters.**

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Atarashi Neko

A Gakuen Alice Story

Chapter Three

We ran to the Northern Woods as fast as I could, and when we got there, we kept running. I could tell that Natsume was monitoring his speed so that I wouldn't get lost. It annoyed me.

I ran a little faster, my breaths coming in short gasps. Natsume looked at me in approval. Was this part of my training?

I didn't want to slow down, so I didn't ask.

Finally, we reached a clearing some way into the 'Woods, and Natsume stopped there.

I nearly collapsed onto all fours, but I held myself up and tried to breath normally. Tried to slow my breathing down at least a little.

"Water!" Natsume barked at me and threw something at me.

I somehow caught it on reflex, and saw that it was a water bottle. I drank greedily.

"Don't drink it so fast, you'll get a stomach ache." I drank slower. "Don't drink it all, either! That's all the water we're allowed to bring while training. One bottle per pair."

I stopped drinking after hearing that. Were they trying to kill us by dehydration?

"What...the...hell?" I gasped out. Somehow, drinking the water had helped me regain my breath, but I was still breathing hard.

"Endurance."

I gave him the water bottle, and he put it back in his pocket.

"What's next?"

"Block my alice."

A small flame appeared on his pointer finger. It went away almost as soon as it'd appeared; I didn't want him using his Alice. He'd get hurt.

"You have to let me attack you."

"You just said to block your Alice. That doesn't mean you have to attack me, that just means I have to stop you from hurting me with it. If you can't use it, you can't hurt me with it."

"You wanna see how long it'll take you to pass out when you have five people surrounding you, all with some type of Alice that can attack you, and you're nullifying every one of their Alices at the same time?" I gulped and shook my head. "How about ten, or fifty?" I shook my head harder. "Just block my attacks, Polka."

Another small flame appeared on his pointer finger. He flicked it at me, and I nullified it almost as soon as it left his body.

"Wait until it gets closer to you! Using your Alice at a distance is harder than at close range."

Another small flame. This time I waited until it would have touched me before nullifying it. My uniform got singed. Another one, and nothing happened. It flew at me, got real close, but never hit. It just disappeared.

A fireball from his palm, this time. Same effect.

A bigger one. Same effect. Nullification was the easy part. It was the Steal Alice I needed to train.

"This is pointless, Natsume. I can block your attacks easily. What I can't do easily is steal your Alice."

"Fine, come try and steal my Alice, then. It's next anyway."

I went up to him and focused on my right hand. I put it to his chest, and thought _Come out. Give me his Alice. COME!_ It didn't work. I tried again, _Take the power away._ Again, it didn't work. I tried removing the Alice in a million different ways. None of them worked.

Finally I tried thinking _Save him from his Alice_. A small stone began to form in my hand. I was so surprised I almost dropped it, but I managed to hold onto it. And what was more, I managed to keep taking it.

I kept adding to the Alice stone until it stopped. I guessed that meant I'd taken the whole thing. His stone was red, blue, orange, yellow, and white. Just like the flames he could make with his Alice. It was a beautiful Alice stone.

Natsume and I were both breathing hard; me, from using my Alice, and Natsume from having his Alice pulled out of him slowly. I didn't know what it felt like, to have his Alice stolen by me slowly like that, but I guessed it hurt. A lot.

"Natsume?" I said slowly. I wanted to know if he was okay.

"Don't worry about me. Put my Alice back and steal it again. Faster, this time."

"I don't want to hurt you!"

"I'll be fine, Polka. Just steal the damn Alice."

Putting his Alice back was hard. I had to place it in the exact same place where I'd extracted it from. I eventually found the place, though, and gave him back his Alice. Then I started the process of taking it out again.

I did it in a place that would be easier to find, this time. Right over his belly button. It seemed to be easier there. Or maybe it was just because it was the second time. This time, instead of thinking _Save him from his Alice_ dejectedly, as I had before, I thought it with conviction. I screamed it out in my head, and the Alice came out much faster than before. I hoped it would work like this with other people as well, not just Natsume. Otherwise I couldn't use my Alices in battle.

I put the Alice back in. It hadn't seemed to hurt him as much, this time. I was pretty tired, though. I wasn't used to using my Alices.

"That's good. Practice your Steal Alice tomorrow before practice. Don't tell the people what you're doing. Just take their Alices."

"Do WHAT? I'm not stealing peoples' Alices! That's horrible!"

"Do you want Persona to punish you for not doing what he says? This says to use your Steal Alice on random people throughout he day."

I couldn't believe this. It was horrible! Persona-sensei couldn't _really_ want me to steal peoples' Alices.

"Natsume, I-"

"Mikan just do whatever the fuck he tells you to, okay?"

Natsume had never called me by my name and cursed at me in the same sentence. He'd never said my name with anger before. He'd never been so harsh. It reminded me of the first time I'd met him. Not when he pulled down my skirt, but after. When we were in these same woods, and he'd threatened Hotaru, Inchou, and finally me.

He hadn't scared me since then, but I was scared of him now. I nodded meekly.

As soon as I did that, he looked contrite, and he softened his next words a little.

"This also says you need to learn a bunch of hand-to-hand combat moves. I'm not going to hold back, but if you say 'stop' I'll stop and let you rest for a bit."

"Okay," I didn't want to anger him again, so I agreed immediately. "What's first?"

First, he showed me how to stand.

"Feet a little more than shoulder width apart and parallel. Hands hanging loose at your sides. Back straight but relaxed. Head up, neck relaxed. Chin down! Don't EVER point your chin up. That gives people a clear shot to your throat."

I did as I was told. The sun was going down, now. I hoped I wouldn't have to do this all night. I needed some sleep, at least, or I'd be practically dead in the morning.

When Natsume was happy with my stance, he had me stand there, still, for ten minutes. He counted.

It was hard, especially my arms. I'd wanted to move them. Maybe swing them back and forth a little, but I couldn't. The first three times I couldn't do it. Some part of my body betrayed me. Maybe my eyes darting to one side, or my fingers twitching. I could never tell, but he always could.

Finally, on the fourth try, I got it. I stood perfectly still, not moving a single muscle, for ten minutes.

"Done," said Natsume suddenly, and I immediately collapsed in on myself. It wasn't that the position was uncomfortable - quite the contrary, it made my back feel wonderful, and it made me feel as though I could move any way I wanted to - but it was still hard to stay perfectly still for ten minutes straight. Nearly impossible, really, but I'd finally done it.

"Why'd you collapse?"

"Because that was hard, idiot."

"Don't collapse. You can move and stretch, but never collapse completely. You should stand like that all the time, from now on. Try to sit in that position, too, until you feel you could slip into that position and stay there forever. Once you do that, you don't need to practice it anymore."

"Have _you_ done that?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yes. Next, show me how to punch."

"Do what?"

"Punch me as hard as you can, Polka."

I looked at him, incredulous once again, but did as I was told. I punched him in the arm, about a fist length below his shoulder. He actually winced.

"Good, but how'd you know to punch there?"

"What?"

"Punching there hard enough can dead-arm me."

"Do what?" I was confused. I didn't know what he was talking about. All I'd done was punch him.

"It means that punching me there renders my arm useless for a certain amount of time. There's a nerve there that connects to the whole arm. Hit it hard enough, and the nerve will send huge pain signals to the muscles, rendering the arm useless for a bit."

"You mean like a pressure point?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Why can't you just say pressure point?"

"You need to know that it can dead-arm a person, not just that there's a pressure point there, and that you should aim for the pressure point."

"Oh. Okay! What next?" I wasn't scared anymore, because I knew at least one place where I could hit back if we had to practice fighting.

"Kick me." I brought my leg back… "Not in the crotch! During a real fight, yes, but not right now. Anywhere else."

I smiled a devilish smile and kicked in hard in the shin. As I was wearing boots, I expected it to hurt. I was right, he winced again.

"Very good, Polka," he said. "Again, that's a good place to hit during a fight. It's not a pressure point, exactly, but it always hurts to get kicked there, no matter what. Well," he amended. "Almost always. Obviously if there's no force behind it at all, it's not going to hurt. Or if it's a normal two to four year old it probably wont hurt either. I remember Youichi once kicked me hard enough to make me cry out a little during a training session, though. This back when he was four."

"You-chan hurt you that badly when he was FOUR?" Natsume nodded. I really had to remember not to get on that kid's bad side. He already controlled spirits, I didn't want to get hurt by You-chan himself on top of that.

"Okay, now stretch."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I'm going to teach you how to really fight, and I don't want you to pull a muscle when we do that. Persona'll still make you go on the mission, even if you're injured."

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you about that. Is that normal? To have a mission so soon?"

"Not necessarily. It all depends, really. Most of the time the higher-ups needs time to see what exactly you can do. In your case, that's not true. They already know that you can use your Alices, and they know your strength. Shadow had his first mission two weeks after he was transferred. Now, stretch."

I did as I was told, stretching as if I was going to run a race. I finished and said, "I'm ready!"

"No, you're not. Did you stretch your back? Your fingers? How about your hips, or your neck? Hit all those places, and stretch the rest longer. I won't hold back in a fight."

I did as I was told, again. I made sure to pull my joints near to the breaking point, so as to stretch "enough."

"There. Now I'm done."

Natsume came at me without warning, and hit me in the gut. He'd lied, thank God. He'd held back a little. Even so, all the air was knocked out of me, and I flew backward.

"Defend yourself," he said, a little too late.

"What the hell was that for?"

"If I'm an enemy, I'm not going to come up to you and tell you, 'I'm going to fight you now. Get ready.' An enemy will come up to you without warning and kill you without a second thought. A good punch to the gut will do that, by the way. You just have to be strong enough."

"You mean you could have killed me?" My voice was shrill. He could have killed me with that punch! What the hell was wrong with him?

"I- What? No! No, Mikan. I made sure to temper my blow. That's part of the reason I had you hit and kick me before. So I could know how strong you are."

I stared at him; I still on the ground. He offered me his hand, and I took it and stood up. I knew I was glaring at him. Not my usual, you're-such-an-annoying-pervert glare, but a real glare. An I'm-scared-so-the-only-thing-I-can-do-to-protect-myself-is-be-angry glare. He looked hurt, but he also looked like he understood.

"Okay, I won't do that again until you've learned to fight. Okay?" I still glared at him. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, as if it was hard to say. He really did sound sorry...I gave him a small smile, showing that I'd forgiven him. He looked relieved, but also as if it hurt him that I couldn't give him a real smile. Well, my stomach still hurt, didn't it?

"Lets go again, huh?"

He nodded and went to his fighting stance. He'd called it neutral before, I remembered. I did too.

"What's the first thing you do in a fight?"

"Attack?"

"No. Think, Polka. What do you think is the most important thing, apart from winning?"

I thought. If attacking wasn't the first thing, then defense wouldn't be either, because then both people would be defending against nothing. _I wish I'd known Natsume was coming- Oh! _That was it.

"Figure out where the other person's going to attack first, and how they're gonna attack."

"Wow, Polka. You actually figured it out on the second try." That was as close as a compliment I was ever going to get with Natsume as my teacher, I figured. "Yes. The first step is to observe the other person. Look for the smallest movements possible. A single twitch could give away their movement."

I finally got the point of the standing still exercise. I looked at Natsume's face, but my eyes got lost in his. I tore my eyes away, and instead looked at his body. A little easier. I felt his eyes on me. I didn't move.

"Natsume?"

"What, Polka?"

"Is it okay for me to attack now?"

"Technically, yes. But right now I want you to wait for me to attack."

I stood still again, staring at his chest.

We were perfectly still for what felt like forever, but was probably only a few seconds.

Then, suddenly, he came at me. I hadn't seen it coming at all, but I managed do dodge the worst of it. He grazed my arm. I pushed both my hands at him as hard as I could, intending to push him to the ground. I succeeded only in making him stagger slightly, before he turned to me and continued his assault.

I dodged, spun, ducked, jumped, did everything I could not to get hit. I couldn't get a single hit on him, though. I kept trying, but while I was like a kitten, plodding along play-fighting, he was a panther. He was strong and graceful, never missing a step, never stumbling.

He also kept landing blows on me. One to my arm, which I'd put up to block my face. Then to my side, which I hadn't been able to avoid or block. A kick to my thigh, my back, my butt.

I could tell he was going easy on me, and that made me mad. He wasn't supposed to go easy on me. He was supposed to fight.

Suddenly, I saw a slight opening in his fighting. He was coming at me with a punch to the face, and I leaned to the right (he was aiming for my left), causing him to miss me completely. The momentum of his punch made him keep going, making it easy for me to catch his left arm and pull it sharply behind him.

Me grabbing him sent us both off balance, but it was Natsume who took it hardest. It wrenched his shoulder out of his socket, but I didn't notice. I kept coming at him, lost in the fight and seeing only his weakness - my advantage.

I grabbed Natsume's other arm and pulled him around, shoving the heel of my palm into his jaw. It hurt me, but was worse on him. His head snapped back, the force of my thrust sending him onto his back on the ground. He started to get up, but I straddled him and punched him in the face, and he lay still.

When that happened, I finally stopped. My battle lust over, I looked down at my boyfriend this time, not my enemy. I was horrified by what I saw. I got off him quickly, not wanting to cause him any more pain.

He looked dead.

I started to freak out, but then his eyes fluttered, and he groaned and rolled onto his side into a fetal position. _I must have accidentally gotten his stomach with my foot or something when I straddled him,_ I thought as I looked at him.

Had it been anyone else, I still would have freaked, but I would have expected it, too. After all, it had to hurt to be beaten up like that.

But it was _Natsume_. Natsume who never showed his pain. Natsume who, when we were kidnapped by the AAO, had used his Alice while exhausted from a mission and from Reo's Alice. Natsume, who would rather hurt himself to protect someone than protect himself at the cost of another's pain.

Natsume did not show pain. Ever. Not unless it hurt so badly that he couldn't help it.

"Natsume?" I asked tentatively. I got a groan in response. "NATSUME! Are you okay? Oh, my God! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you. Natsume? Hey, Natsume!"

I was kneeling next to him. He was on his back. His chin looked...unnatural. Broken. BROKEN?

"Natsume?" I asked urgently. "Hey, Natsume, are you okay?"

All I got in response was a weird groaning grunt that sounded kind of like "Mm fn."

"I'm taking you to the hospital. Hotaru's brother should be able to help you."

I carefully picked him up, not wanting to hurt him, and helped him stand. He put his arm on my shoulders and I helped him towards the hospital. As we walked, I noticed his face was bruising horribly. It already looked black.

When we got to the hospital, the nurse at the desk looked at us, horrified.

"What happened?" she nearly yelled.

"Training. Hand to hand combat. My first time," I said. I was short of breath from carrying him all the way from the Northern Woods to the hospital.

"Jesus, miss, couldn't you two have gone easy on each other?" the nurse asked as she rang Imai-senpai's office over the intercom. "Oh, I'm sorry, miss. Please hold on a second. Dr. Imai? I have Natsume Hyuuga and a girl here. His jaw looks like it might be broken and he's semi-unconscious." There was a pause while Imai-senpai said something. "Yes. Yes, I know he wasn't supposed to be training again so soon." Pause. "Yes, Doctor." Pause. "Well, all we can do is heal him; we can't control Persona." Pause. "Oh, of course," she said with obvious sarcasm and scorn in her voice. "Persona-_sensei_. They should have left that man locked up when he was a child." I flinched at the reference to my father's death. "Thank you, Doctor. That would be greatly appreciated." She hung up the phone, and turned back to me. "Dr. Imai can see you both. You look pretty beaten up too, miss…?"

"Sakura. Sakura Mikan."

She looked taken aback, but controlled her expression quickly. "Of course, Sakura-san. Here. I'll take Natsume to his usual room. You should come too, so we can get some of those bruises taken care of and make sure you don't have anything too serious."

I gave her Natsume, and we went to a private room. Imai-senpai was already there, and he gave a small start of surprise when he saw me.

"Mikan-chan, what are you doing here?"

"I'm the one who broke Natsume's jaw."

The nurse put Natsume on the bed, then nodded to Imai-senpai and left. Imai-senpai began healing Natsume's wound.

"What's the meaning of that, Mikan-chan? Surely you weren't training with him?"

"I was, Senpai."

He stopped healing Natsume and looked at me sharply. "You joined the Dangerous Abilities class?"

"Yes."

"You idiot," he said, turning back to Natsume. "You do realize that Natsume has been fighting for you _not_ to be in the Dangerous Abilities class since you got back?"

"I-I know. But he...he needed help, and...I'm the only one who can help him."

"You can't leave now that you're in that class, Mikan-chan, but the best way to help right now would probably have been if you hadn't joined."

"He was going to die! He was using his Alice too much. I couldn't just sit there and watch it happen, never doing anything to help."

Natsume's jaw was back to normal. The only indication that there'd ever been anything wrong with it in the first place was a slight bruise.

"That bruise'll go away in a day or so. I healed his previous wounds as well. Let me look at your injuries."

"I'm fine. All I've got are a few bruises."

"A few bruises could mean anything. Come here."

He healed my bruises quickly, and I took a small part of his Alice. I wouldn't take it all; that would be horrible of me, since he'd just healed Natsume and was healing me. I needed practice. It didn't make it feel any worse, though.

When he was done healing me, I had an Alice stone in my hand. It was about half the size of Natsume's, so that Imai-senpai would still have his Alice. I hid it in my fist as Imai-senpai left the room, leaving Natsume and me alone.

I was so tired. Training had taken a lot out of me. I climbed into the hospital bed with Natsume, and fell asleep there, holding him in my arms on the uncomfortable bed.

Before I fell asleep, I caught a glimpse of the clock. It was after three A.M.

* * *

**Yet again, what'd you think? Was it good, bad, wonderful, horrible? Did you have the most fun reading that you've had in ages, as Ariisha-chan did? (I'm sure she was exagerating(sp) so I don't expect that from my readers, wonderful though you are.) No matter what you thought, REVIEW! Reviews make the world go 'round. I accept all reviews: Happy, fluffy ones, constructive criticism, constructive flames (yes, there is such a thing. I've given them before), flames, and simple happy, but not fluffy, ones. SO REVIEW! I don't give a sh*t what you thought of it, AS LONG AS YOU REVIEW! SO PLEASE REVIEW! **

_Goddess, I sound desperate..._


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